LI BUSINESS
] COMPANY: Horman’s Best
Pickles, Glen Cove
] FOUNDER: Nick Horman Jr.
] PRODUCT: Specialty pickles
] EMPLOYEES: 10
$101,500
z
Average annual salary
in the finance and
insurance sector
on Long Island
erations of Allen Pickle Works,
which has been headed by Nick’s
father, Nicholas R. Horman Sr.,
still a principal at the firm, and
Nick’s late uncle, Ronald F. Horman, Ron Jr.’s father.
“They’re basically running it,”
says Nick Sr., 71.
Source: New York State
Department of Labor
SPORTING GOODS
CHAIN HIRING ON LI
Back to the future
BY AISHA AL-MUSLIM
Horman’s Best Pickles founder Nicholas T. Horman Jr., left, and cousin Ron Horman Jr. of Allen Pickle
Works are in line to take over third-generation business in Glen Cove. ] Video: newsday.com/biz
BRINE IS IN
theirblood
This caped
crusader
hangs on the
wall at Allen
Pickle Works,
parent
company of
Horman’s Best.
Pickle makers stirring up recipes for growth
BY JAMIE HERZLICH
[email protected]
Eye on innovation
When you’re selling such a
common item, it takes some creativity to stand out.
With a commodity like pickles,
“you need a lot of innovation and
branding” to be competitive, says
Phil Lempert, the Santa Monica,
California-based founder of SupermarketGuru.com and editor of
the Lempert Report, a daily food
trend video report.
“I think you’ve got to have an
eye on what trends are versus
fads, and talk to consumers,” says
Lempert.
Nick Jr. gets instant feedback
on his varieties from farmers
markets.
“The best kind of R & D is right
in the field,” says Ron Jr.
Among the largest farmers markets Nick Jr. sells at are the McGolrick Park Farmers Market in
Greenpoint, Brooklyn, and the
Montauk Farmers Market, but
both are seasonal. He has some
year-round stands, including one
at the corner of Sixth Avenue and
Carmine Street in Manhattan’s
West Village.
He now sells more than 15 varieties, including sweet Cajun
See PICKLES on A32
NEWSDAY, MONDAY, MARCH 6, 2017
Some entrepreneurs
think outside the box,
but Nicholas T. Horman
Jr. thinks outside
the barrel — the
pickle
barrel,
that is.
Horman is a
third-generation
pickle maker and
founder of Horman’s Best Pickles, the specialty
arm of Glen
Cove-based Allen
Pickle Works. Horman’s products — which
include jalapeño pickles
and a pickle-juice
Bloody Mary mix
— are sold at
farmers markets
and street stands as well as online.
He started the endeavor in
2003 to earn extra money for
college, selling at a handful of
farmers markets. Horman’s sells
about 250,000 pounds of specialty pickles a year at more
than 30 farmers markets and
street stands on Long Island and
in New York City.
While that’s a hefty amount, it’s
small in comparison to parent
company Allen Pickle Works,
which sells close to 50 million
pounds of pickles a year through
wholesale distribution under its
own name and under private
label for clients.
“Brine is in our blood,” says Horman, 33, whose late grandfather Joe
started the family business in 1953.
Over the next couple of years,
Nick Jr. and his cousin Ron Horman Jr. are in line to take over op-
The two younger Hormans
plan to open a storefront at
Allen Pickle Works’ Glen Cove
factory this spring or summer
and sell pickles out of barrels
just as their grandfather did and
as Nick Jr. now does at farmers
markets.
“More people are searching for
pickles out of the barrel,” says
Ron Jr., 32, who handles operations and sales at Allen Pickle
Works.
But keeping pickles fresh in
consumers’ minds is always a
challenge, particularly in such a
saturated market.
Pickles are a $1.1 billion retail industry in the United States, up 1.3
percent over last year, according to
Washington, D.C.-based Pickle
Packers International Inc.
newsday.com
newsday.com/biz
PHOTOS BY CHUCK FADELY
[email protected]
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LI BUSINESS
At a glance
BIZfact
Dick’s Sporting Goods is hiring to fill about 110 full-time
and part-time positions for a
new store opening next month
in Bay Shore.
The retailer said it is looking for applicants passionate
about sports or the outdoors
to work at the Westfield
South Shore mall location, at
1701 Sunrise Hwy. The new
two-level store is expected to
open in April and will feature
the largest golf department of
any Dick’s location in the
country.
The store will sell athletic
and outdoor apparel and
footwear, and gear for team
sports, fitness, camping, hunting and fishing. Applicants
can go to dickssportinggoods.
jobs.
The Pittsburgh-based company, founded in 1948, operates
more than 675 locations in the
United States. Dick’s also owns
and operates Golf Galaxy, Field
& Stream, True Runner, and
Chelsea Collective stores.
In
September,
Dick’s
opened the first Field &
Stream store on Long Island,
at the Melville Mall in
Melville, adjacent to an existing Dick’s Sporting Goods location. Field & Stream is not
associated with Field &
Stream magazine.
Dick’s other Long Island locations are in Riverhead,
Patchogue, Commack, Garden
City, Lake Grove and Valley
Stream.
A31